Rush, Kirk to tour Englewood on Thursday, talk violence

Meeting follows dust-up between lawmakers earlier in the year

Congressman Bobby Rush speaks with students from Genevieve Melody Elementary School during a school closings bus tour. (Antonio Perez, Chicago Tribune)

U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush is making good on his promise to show U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk around crime-ridden areas on Chicago's South Side.

On Thursday, according to a news release from Rush's office, the lawmakers from Illinois are scheduled to tour the Englewood neighborhood and discuss urban violence, obstacles to economic growth and other community needs.

Rush's promise arose as a peace gesture after Kirk in May called for jailing all Gangster Disciples members. Rush ridiculed the notion, calling it an "upper-middle-class, elitist white-boy solution" to Chicago's crime problems.

Rush said the suggestion to jail the 18,000 or so Gangster Disciples in Illinois showed Kirk's ignorance about the real issues of creating jobs and providing affordable housing.

Last week, Kirk said that although he still supports mass arrests of gang members, he used the 18,000 figure to shock Illinoisans into realizing how extensive the gang issue is in the state. Kirk said he rode along with Chicago police Superintendent Garry McCarthy in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood last month.